


Ages

by GrumpyJenn



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 250 words, F/M, post-Snowmen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-15
Updated: 2013-03-15
Packaged: 2017-12-05 08:49:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/721165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyJenn/pseuds/GrumpyJenn





	Ages

“Please don’t go,” the Doctor had said. Pleaded with her, really. “River, please, _please_ don’t go.”

But she was adamant. She must go, and she must go _now_ , before she met Clara-Oswin. It was imperative that she not meet Clara. Not yet.

Because of _spoilers_.

Bloody spoilers.

Bloody thrice-damned spoilers.

But when River had stood there, with _that_ look on her face and those tears in her eyes, and said that _word_... he couldn’t stop her from going. He couldn’t try. He might never say it, but he loved her. Oh, so much. And for so long. And he couldn’t bear to be responsible for putting that look on her face. That tight, vulnerable-side-that-she-keeps-well-hidden look.

Not now. Not again.

Not after Manhattan.

Not after her – _their_ – family had... well.

So he had walked to her, uncharacteristically in a straight line, and taken her face between shaking hands. “I would forget Clara, forget the mystery of Clara, if you would stay with me.”

But River had shaken her head, one of the tears falling onto his thumb where it framed her face, and choked out, “You can’t. You mustn’t. I... _not one line_.”

And so he had kissed her on the lips, and whispered into her mouth. “Come back to me, my River. As soon as you can.”

She would. He knew she would.

In her own time.

Because, if nothing else, there was still _that_ night. The last night.

The night yet to come.

He had been promising for ages.


End file.
